Round 2 Information

Official BTOCT Round 2 Winners & Match-ups

 

After much deliberation and friendly pseudo-arguments between Judges, the difficult process of determining the winners of Round 1 has finally ended. We wish everyone could move forward, but we still have important story plot points for those of you that are not. Thank you to everyone who participated and submitted R1s. You all brought your A-game and made it hard for us (which is a very good thing). You can read all of the R1 entries by clicking here.

Official BTOCT R1 Winners

Paintman

Abigail & We

Akhila & Emma

Zetsel

Kasper Reenberg

Delim & Kailios

Moss & Lyra

Mal & Fran

Round 2 Match-ups

(Match-ups were randomized via a Google Sheets script) 

Folder of portraits: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Lq9dNoPAdPLzXIXx3sAw2kzBKJAFaOVy?usp=drive_link

Current Spectator Leaderboard

1. IchirouKiyoshi (Freed: Khorn): 70
2. Phazon (Freed: Hell Hound): 41
3. Hiyawoffa (Freed: Jaeger): 40
4. Tonio (Freed: Sheri & Corey): 34
5. FireCracker101 (Freed: Cecilia & Reuben): 29
6. MsConductor (Expedition: Holy Father Jeroche): 27
7. Mystic-Snail (Expedition: Brian): 26
8. Mister The Captain Dalton (Freed: Jack): 25
9. DragonOwl (Freed: Elmer): 15
10. Elkrauser (Freed: Queen Synthea): 14

The Delegated

The Delegated R2 submission form: [coming soon]

If you participated in Round 1 but did not move forward, there is still an important plot for you to participate in. Based on the following plot point, you can still make an impact on the overall story-- actions taken (and NOT taken) WILL affect the overall canon story. You have the unique "The Delegated" plot route open to you. Just as with The Expedition and The Feed, this is a specific "spectator" event for those who participated in R1 but did not move forward. Points will be earned cumulatively alongside The Expedition and The Feed players, but you will start with an average amount of points (32) that the others have earned thus far to make it fair for you. By the end of BTOCT, the top 3 "spectator" players with the most points earned will receive a prize.

Canon Event: Your Services Are Needed Elsewhere

The lights are on; the power has returned to the complex. It’s clearly struggling, unstable as it flickers on and off in sporadic rhythms.

However, you have something more pressing to deal with. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing– be it struggling, resting, or something anywhere inbetween– you find yourself seized by a familiar force. That familiarity only deepens as The Entity’s voice soon intones:

“In light of new developments, I’ve determined that some of your skills are better suited elsewhere…”

Much like how you witnessed the others disappear back in the lobby, you too are now dragged off into a pitch void, unsure of destination or fate. Your answer soon comes as you reacquaint yourself with light and freedom of movement in a space you’ve not been before. A massive area lies sprawling before you filled with corridors of machines and humming contraptions, along with vast arrays of parts, tools, and equipment; the maintenance department, you surmise.  

“It’s about time,” a gruff voice calls out from across the room, and there you see another spirit approaching.

“The power being on changes things. You better be ready to work, or these lights won’t last long.”

Optional Prompt: The Power Depends On You

Somewhere deep in the facility far from the lobby is the massive maintenance department, and where you now find yourself. A spirit named Ben Waller is putting you to work trying to stabilize the malfunctioning power. 

From here, you as the writer have a choice to make: to succeed in this task or fail. Both options have impact on the story overall moving forward. This will be determined by how many of The Delegated write entries in which success occurs versus how many write entries in which failure occurs. If none of The Delegated write an entry, that is an automatic fail state.

FAQ About The Delegated

The Delegated R2 Requirements

• You must submit everything through the official submission forms before the deadline-- Friday January 9th 2026 23:59:59 EST-- to have your points counted for R2

• • The Delegated submission form: [coming soon]
  • You will submit via the specific form and you will score your own entry based on the following criteria:
  The Delegated spectator points criteria

  Starting amount of points for The Delegated R2 (based on the average points from R1): 32

  • Make an entry: 5 points per entry
  • Cameo someone else's character: 1 point each cameo
  • • May be fellow players' characters, judge NPCs, etc
  • Feature someone else's character: 3 points each feature
  • • A feature is defined as: if the character was removed from the entry, the story would be incomplete
  • Add to Thraelos worldbuilding: 5 points overall
  • • Can be history, lore, legends, locations, NPCs, etc
  • Do something creative/unique with the entry: 2 points overall
  • • This includes supplemental art, unique formatting of the text, creative presentation, etc
  • Depict success or failure of "The Power Depends On You" prompt: 2 points overall
  • • This will have impact on the story overall moving forward; both options are viable choices
  • Adhere to the canon framework presented so far: 3 points overall
  • Updated the archive to reflect this entry: 1 point overall
  • • Such as added it to your creator page, made a new page for location, NPC, creature, etc if needed, and so forth

The Delegated R2 Rules

1. GenAI, in any form at all, is STRICTLY PROHIBITED
2. 1. Anyone caught utilizing generative AI for any portion of their work in BTOCT will be promptly removed and banned from any future ThraelosVerse participation
3. The work should be primarily text-based
4. 1. You can create visual art or non-text supplementary aspects to add to your entries, however the story as a whole must be complete within, and able to be followed within, text format if you want it to count for the most points
   2. Format, is up to you, but keep the text/prose as the focus in mind
5. Must all be submitted via an official submission form before deadline-- January 9th 2026 23:59:59 EST-- or the spectator R2 entry will not be considered for points
6. 1. The Delegated submission form: [coming soon]
7. Must be your original work

The Trapped

Main tournament bracket R2 submission form: [coming soon]

The following is R2 information for the 8 competitors who are still in the main tournament roster. There is a required prompt, as well as optional supplementary prompts and official lore for your story-telling needs. 

Canon Event: Ideas Are Taking Shape

The lights are on; the power has returned to the complex– and some of you have just watched, yet again, as more of your numbers are taken by the darkness to destinations unknown. 

It becomes painfully clear that the power isn’t stable. It flickers on and off, kicking to life lights and killing them in random bouts. You realize that the “Staff Only” doors finally have power, albeit malfunctioning with the fluctuating electricity; one way or another, you manage to gain access to the “Staff Only” sections that were locked away from you.

In addition, you realize another vital area has now been made available to you. Ground zero: the portal bay. With the power as unreliable as it is, however, you would be wise to not dawdle under the now-lifted blast door for too long. 

You thought the areas allotted to the patrons were tremendous until you witness the areas behind the scenes. Large, liminal, labyrinthian. You notice yet another obstacle in the way of your progress deeper into the facility: high security access doors, behind which you can assume lay the Executive Suites and Control Rooms– and something else hidden. Aside from the usual "spirits", you find you aren’t alone back here; friendly security bots greet you and inquire about your credentials, but the power malfunctioning is doing something strange to them. 

The bots aren't the only ones having strange things done to them; it seems like the deeper you traverse into the building, the closer you get to whatever is hidden deeper in the mountain, the more aggressive the spirits get. Closer proximity to something inside the mountain is causing them to become more violent. 

Required Prompt: Diving Deeper

As you continue to try to solve the mystery, you realize you will need to keep digging deeper-- and that means finding a way into the high security areas: the executive suites, control rooms, and hopefully answers that lie beyond. By the end of this round, you must figure out a way to open the high security doors despite the unreliable power, the dangerous security bots, the more aggressive spirits, and whatever else you may encounter back in the labyrinth of the Staff-Only areas. (You do not have to progress past resolving how to open the doors as what you find beyond will be revealed to you in Round Three) 

Official R1 Lore Drops

Optional Prompt: Simon Says

Between Cain's first visit to The Bifrost Terminal and his return to build the basecamp, a week passed and TITAN caught wind of his plan to hire on more help. Not wanting potentially more people investigating the Terminal grounds, TITAN sent Simon, a lowly TITAN office employee and the man that had been sent initially to offer Cain the job in the first place, to try to talk Cain out of bringing in more onto the job. Simon, however, had no idea that Cain wasn't at The Bifrost Terminal at the time of his arrival to Origa, so the poor man traversed up Mount Panthea hoping to find him there-- only to find an empty Terminal. Well... empty of any particularly thin psychics, at least.

Now, you find Simon, holed up in some section or corner in The Bifrost Terminal, having been spooked by the spirits when he arrived days ago into now being completely lost inside. He doesn't care about the job anymore, he just wants to find a way out. 

You will find Simon's Archive page here.

Main Tournament R2 Requirements

• Within your R2 entry, you MUST meet these requirements:

• • Your entry must feature your opponent
  • • The details are up to you and your imagination
  • You must adhere to the required prompt: you must find a way to open the high security doors by the end of your entry
  • • This does not have to take up the bulk of your entry and can even just be a side note

• Word count maximum limit: approximately 25,000

• • Reminder: This is a MAXIMUM CAP, this is NOT A GOAL
  • • There is NO MINIMUM CAP

• You must submit everything through the official submission form before the deadline: January 9th 2026 23:59:59 EST

• • Link to main bracket submission form: [coming soon]

Main Tournament R2 Rules

1. GenAI, in any form at all, is STRICTLY PROHIBITED
2. 1. Anyone caught utilizing generative AI for any portion of their work in BTOCT will be promptly removed and banned from any future ThraelosVerse participation
3. The work must be primarily text-based
4. 1. You can create visual art or non-text supplementary aspects to add to your entries, however the story as a whole must be complete within, and able to be followed within, text format
   2. You will be judged only on the prose/text portion, so be sure to focus on that
   3. Format, is up to you, but keep the text/prose as the focus in mind
5. The R2 entry must be a “complete” work
6. 1. R2 entries with incomplete story will not be accepted– do not turn in WIPs (Works In Progress) as they will be automatically rejected
   2. Story must be able to be followed from beginning to end, even if unpolished (bare bones plot point lists will not be accepted)-- remember: finished, not perfect
7. Must all be submitted via the official submission form before deadline-- January 9th 2026 23:59:59 EST-- or the R2 entry will not be considered
8. 1. Link to main bracket submission form: [coming soon]
9. Must be your original work

The Freed

The Freed R2 submission form: [coming soon]

If you auditioned for BTOCT but did not make the roster, fear not. Your audition was not a waste. Based on the following plot point, your character WAS present and you can still make an impact on the overall story-- that's right, actions taken can potentially affect the overall canon story! You have the unique "The Freed" plot route open to you. Just as with The Expedition and The Delegated, this is a specific "spectator" event for those who auditioned but did not make the roster. Points will be earned cumulatively alongside The Expedition and The Delegated players. By the end of BTOCT, the top 3 "spectator" players with the most points earned will receive a prize.

Canon Event: Not Everyone Is Happy About The Power

Thanks to a number of you, the electricity has finally turned back on for the entirety of The Bifrost Terminal, albeit it's unstable-- and loud. As it turns out, machines that haven't been used in a century produce a powerful hum when coming back to life.

Unfortunately for you, that electrical churning has caught the attention, and ire, of something malevolent on the mountain. A LOT of somethings-- and they want that sound stopped even if it means destroying the utilities department to do it. 

Optional Prompt: Defend The Power

A horde of Snowbits have been riled up by the sound of the power systems coming back to life, and they are now attacking in droves as they try to destroy the electrical equipment in the utilities department. These creatures are many, very aggressive, and have the unique ability of biting down on a victim to take control of their body, like a living puppet (making victims turn on each other, throw themselves over ledges, be unable to fight, etc). If left alone, they will cause the power for the entire facility to fail again.

From here, you as the writer have a choice to make: to succeed in this task or fail. Both options have impact on the story overall moving forward. This will be determined by how many of The Freed write entries in which success occurs versus how many write entries in which failure occurs. If none of The Freed write an entry, that is an automatic fail state.

FAQ About The Freed

The Freed R2 Rules

1. GenAI, in any form at all, is STRICTLY PROHIBITED
2. 1. Anyone caught utilizing generative AI for any portion of their work in BTOCT will be promptly removed and banned from any future ThraelosVerse participation
3. The work should be primarily text-based
4. 1. You can create visual art or non-text supplementary aspects to add to your entries, however the story as a whole must be complete within, and able to be followed within, text format if you want it to count for the most points
   2. Format, is up to you, but keep the text/prose as the focus in mind
5. Must all be submitted via an official submission form before deadline-- January 9th 2026 23:59:59 EST-- or the spectator R2 entry will not be considered for points
6. 1. The Freed submission form: [coming soon]
7. Must be your original work

The Freed R2 Requirements

• You must submit everything through the official submission forms before the deadline-- January 9th 2026 23:59:59 EST-- to have your points counted for R2

• • The Freed submission form: [coming soon]
  • You will submit via the specific form and you will score your own entry based on the following criteria:
  The Freed spectator points criteria

  • Make an entry: 5 points per entry
  • Cameo someone else's character: 1 point each cameo
  • • May be fellow players' characters, judge NPCs, etc
  • Feature someone else's character: 3 points each feature
  • • A feature is defined as: if the character was removed from the entry, the story would be incomplete
  • Utilize a prompt: 3 points per each used
  • • May be used as a springboard as well as combined with other prompts
    • Will continue to receive the points for each future round the prompt is narratively prominent
  • Add to Thraelos worldbuilding: 5 points overall
  • • Can be history, lore, legends, locations, NPCs, etc
  • Do something creative/unique with the entry: 2 points overall
  • • This includes supplemental art, unique formatting of the text, creative presentation, etc
  • Depict survivalism/conflict from the setting for your character: 2 points overall
  • • This is to encourage the character facing conflict in the environment rather than easily succeeding
  • Adhere to the canon framework presented so far: 3 points overall
  • Updated the archive to reflect this entry: 1 point overall
  • • Such as added it to your creator page, made a new page for location, NPC, creature, etc if needed, and so forth

The Expedition

The Expedition R2 submission form: [coming soon]

The following is information for anyone.  The expedition is a form of “spectator” event with a canon starting point and optional prompts, some of which will have an impact on the overall story in later rounds. This will be a cumulative points-earning event in which certain things will garner you a set amount of points each round, such as making an entry, including others' characters, using certain prompts, etc. By the end of BTOCT, the top 3 "spectator" players with the most points earned will receive a prize, but their scores will be checked by judges for accuracy. Actions taken in The Expedition can potentially affect the overall canon story, especially in later rounds.

Starting Canon Event

It was hard for the village of Origa to not take notice of the sudden influx of visitors flocking in and requesting information about (and rides up to) The Bifrost Terminal. It was harder still to not notice the amount of people that then started heading up Mount Panthea, supposedly trying to reach The Bifrost Terminal. Normally when someone tried to head up the mountain, especially with that destination, they realized how difficult a trek it is and returned to the village a few hours later. But in this case, several people have been traversing up the mountain and not a single one has returned back down. Needless to say, the many denizens of Origa have grown concerned. 

A knight that goes by the name ‘Goose’, and his ex-assassin wife named ‘Crane’, have decided to take up the charge on a rescue expedition. The duo have put out their own call for help: join the expedition up Mount Panthea and assist in potentially rescuing those presumed trapped on the mountain. 

Since it is expected that many, if not all, of those that previously travelled up the mountain are stranded, stuck, trapped, or otherwise in trouble along the way to The Bifrost Terminal, this expedition will be made on foot, meticulously combing the mountainside for any signs of those that went before–as such there will be no flying or teleporting shortcuts made. You are all under the assumption that none of those that headed up to The Bifrost Terminal made it and are instead scattered across Mount Panthea in need of help (although this assumption is entirely incorrect, your character doesn't know this).

You will find Goose and Crane's Archive pages here:

• Goose
• Crane

 As a new detail for Round Two: those on The Expedition have the possibility of coming across deep tracks left behind by a massive vehicle of some kind... (The origin will be revealed in future rounds)

Optional Prompts: A Vast Array Of Options

FAQ About The Expedition

The Expedition Requirements

• If you did not audition, make a new character to use in The Expedition and create a page for them on the Archives

• • Those that did audition are welcome to create and use new characters for The Expedition as well
  • All new characters (included NPCs) are encouraged to have character pages made for them regardless where they are used in the spectator events

• You must submit everything through the official submission forms before the deadline-- January 9th 2026 23:59:59 EST-- to have your points counted for R2

• • The Expedition submission form: [coming soon]
  • You will submit via the specific form and you will score your own entry based on the following criteria:

The Expedition R2 Rules

1. GenAI, in any form at all, is STRICTLY PROHIBITED
2. 1. Anyone caught utilizing generative AI for any portion of their work in BTOCT will be promptly removed and banned from any future ThraelosVerse participation
3. The work should be primarily text-based
4. 1. You can create visual art or non-text supplementary aspects to add to your entries, however the story as a whole must be complete within, and able to be followed within, text format if you want it to count for the most points
   2. Format, is up to you, but keep the text/prose as the focus in mind
5. Must all be submitted via an official submission form before deadline-- January 9th 2026 23:59:59 EST-- or the spectator R2 entry will not be considered for points
6. 1. The Expedition submission form: [coming soon]
7. Must be your original work